Clarets set for tough afternoon in Wales

We go to Cardiff just as they have broken a club record by producing their best ever start to a season at home with six wins out of six.

Even so, we must be going there with some confidence after winning the last two games. There wasn't too much of that confidence ahead of the Blackpool game but, in the end, we were convincing winners against our Lancashire rivals.

Ross Wallace rated at no more than 50/50

Then came Tuesday at Bristol City. I am sure most observers felt we deserved to win more comfortably than a 4-3 scoreline but the real boost came with the stoppage time response and getting that Chris McCann winner when it looked as though two points had been lost.

They are our first back to back wins since Easter when we followed up a 1-0 home win against Brighton with a 2-1 win at Doncaster. Those six points have lifted us to 14th in the table and we can now see the play off positions much better than we can see the three relegation slots.

We currently sit just  three points behind Wolves who occupy sixth place, but we are now a very comfortable looking eight points clear of Peterborough who have moved up two places to third from bottom.

The likelihood is that this will be the last game for Pash and I'm sure the players will want to give of their best for him. Speaking today, midfielder Brian Stock, who was surprisingly omitted on many occasions by Eddie Howe who had signed him, said things had been more professional.

He added: "I have said previously that Pash deserves a lot of credit. Even if I hadn't played I would have still said the same things, but I am delighted to have played two games and we have been fortunate to have two wins on the board as well."

Looking forward to the game at Cardiff, he admitted: "We think we can get promoted, definitely top six, so this is the sort of test you need to come through.

"Cardiff is a very tough place to go and get a result. They've got a strong squad, a good manager and they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. There's no harder test but we have to take a lot of heart from our last two games and I don't see why we can't go into the game with a lot of confidence and get a result."

If we do then we'll have to do it without either Marvin Bartley or Ben Mee with Ross Wallace facing a fitness test. Bartley and Wallace both have hamstring problems. Bartley has already been ruled out and Wallace is rated no better than 50/50.

Mee will definitely miss this game after collecting his fifth yellow card of the season at Bristol City. That means a one match ban. He'll be available for Wolves but the likely replacement is Joseph Mills who is likely to get the nod over Danny Lafferty who made his debut in this fixture last season.

The late withdrawal of Bartley and the even later withdrawal of Wallace left Pashley with no real options to change things in midfield so it wouldn't be a surprise to see him add Steven Hewitt to the squad tomorrow.

I don't think there will be any changes to the starting eleven, other than the one enforced change because of Mee's suspension.

We could line up: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Joseph Mills, Brian Stock, Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Martin Paterson, Charlie Austin, Junior Stanislas. Subs from: Brian Jensen, Luke O'Neill, David Edgar, Danny Lafferty, Steven Hewitt, Cameron Stewart, Danny Ings, Sam Vokes.

It will be a new look Cardiff that we face. They had something of a makeover, and a controversial one at that, during the summer. No longer do the home team in the predominantly blue coloured stadium play in that colour.

To continue receiving the money from their Malaysian owners they had to change their badge, change their nickname and their colours. They now play in red shirts and black shorts.

It's all very strange and I'm not sure any sensible or reasonable argument  was ever put forward for the change, one many fans challenged with some getting their season ticket money back.

Whatever, it's not had a detrimental effect and in their new red shirts they are still to drop a point at home. Huddersfield, Wolves, Leeds, Blackpool, Birmingham and Watford have all left beaten with Blackpool suffering the biggest defeat, going down 3-0.

One thing we know without checking is that they will have scored and conceded less than us. They've actually scored four less goals but have conceded ten less.

Leading goalscorer is former Burnley loan player Pete Whittingham. Despite offers of moves back to the Premier League he's remained with Cardiff and has scored seven times in the league, albeit with three of them from the penalty spot. Heidar Helguson, with four goals, is the only other player to score more than twice.

The summer saw the arrival of Nicky Maynard, Craig Bellamy and Tommy Smith but it's possible none of them will play. Maynard is out long term having had knee surgery, Bellamy is ruled out with an ankle injury suffered in Tuesday's win against Watford and Smith is a doubt with a hamstring problem.

Mackay has moved quickly to plug one of the gaps and today signed Kerim Frei from Fulham, the youngster who was considered the biggest threat when we faced the West London club in last season's FA Youth Cup.

Cardiff's team on Tuesday was 1. David Marshall, 12. Matthew Connolly, 5. Mark Hudson, 6. Ben Turner (15. Rudy Gestede) 3. Andrew Taylor, 16: Craig Noone, 7. Pete Whittingham, 8. Don Cowie, 14. Tommy Smith (17. Aron Gunnarsson), 39. Craig Bellamy (20. Joe Mason), 22. Heidar Helguson. Subs not used: 32: Joe Lewis, 2. Kevin McNaughton, 11. Craig Conway, 13. Bo-Kyung Kim.

Last Time We Were There

Last season's league visit to Cardiff was not an occasion to remember. Burnley had won just one point from the previous four games and I said in my report at the time that if any game deserved to end 0-0 then this was it.

Debut for Danny Lafferty

We were actually the better side but for most of the game were content to play the ball across the pitch and showed little inclination to attack Cardiff at any stage of the game.

Junior Stanislas was back in the side, his first game after suffering a hamstring injury at Middlesbrough, and Danny Lafferty came in for a debut. Unfortunately, Jay Rodriguez was out with an injury that virtually ended his season and Burnley career, and strangely Charlie Austin was on the bench.

Austin almost won it too but was dragged down by a Cardiff defender only for referee Iain Williamson to astonishingly wave the penalty claims away. Cardiff were booed off by their fans and both managers struggled to find any positive words when interviewed at the end.

The teams were;

Cardiff: David Marshall, Kevin McNaughton, Andrew Taylor, Mark Hudson, Ben Turner, Liam Lawrence, Aron Gunnarsson (Stephen McPhail 85), Don Cowie (Craig Conway 63), Pete Whittingham, Joe Mason, Kenny Miller (Robert Earnshaw 78). Subs not used: Tom Heaton, Darcy Blake.

Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, David Edgar, Danny Lafferty, Ross Wallace, Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Junior Stanislas (Marvin Bartley 73), Danny Ings (Josh McQuoid 90+2), Martin Paterson (Charlie Austin 84). Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Ben Mee.

Previous Games against Cardiff

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